HelioSkin
A Project by Jenny Sabin Lab
Cornell University
HelioSkin Research Team
Zeiad Amin(Lead RA), Mariana Bertoni (Co-PI), Alana Berry(RA), Si Chen (Postdoc), Jeffrey Chinemezu Enwere(RA), Itai Cohen (Co-PI), Anita Lin(PM), Catherine Pak(RA), Adrienne Roeder(Co-PI), Jenny E. Sabin(PI), Jeeya Savani(RA), Avilash Singh Yadav (Postdoc),Isabel Schinella (RA), Michael Martinez-Szewczyk (PhD), Jinsong Zhang (Postdoc), Hanyu (Alice) Zhang (PhD)
HelioSkin is a project under development as part of the 2024 NSF Convergence Accelerator. The approach is to develop a beautiful solar collection skin system with mechanical tracking capabilities, designed to seamlessly integrate into various architectural scales. Ranging from backyard canopies to wrapping buildings, HelioSkin leverages kirigami and auxetic geometry to mimic the heliotropic behavior of plants.
The proposed pilot design is a portable, dual-axis canopy of approximately 150 square feet that will morph and track the sun at the global surface of the canopy to optimize solar energy capture. The tensile system will host low power, tunable ePaper displays manufactured from roll-to-roll printing to enable consumer branding and lighting customization capabilities.
This research project is funded by the National Science Foundation under the Convergence Accelerator Phase 1 program in collaboration with Roeder Lab and Cohen Group at Cornell University and the DEfECT Lab at Arizona State University. Current industry partners include E Ink Corporation and Rainier Industries.